居心不良 (jū xīn bù liáng) — to harbor evil intentions; to have bad motives

Definition

A four-character idiom meaning 'to harbor bad motives' — focuses on hidden, malicious intent behind someone's actions. Used in formal writing or serious warnings, unlike plain 别有用心 which emphasizes ulterior personal motives.

idiom
to harbor evil intentionsto have bad motives

Examples

  • 居心不良，。
    Nà ge shāng rén jū xīn bù liáng, zǒng xiǎng piàn gù kè de qián.
    That businessman harbors evil intentions; he always tries to cheat customers out of their money.
  • ，居心不良。
    Tā biǎo miàn shàng bāng máng, qí shí jū xīn bù liáng.
    He pretends to help, but in fact he has bad motives.
  • 居心不良。
    Zhè zhǒng jū xīn bù liáng de xíng wéi chí zǎo huì bèi rén fā xiàn.
    This kind of malicious behavior will be discovered sooner or later.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
主谓zhǔwèiSubject + predicate

A small sentence frozen into a word: something, and what it does or is.

居心intentions
居jūharbor心xīnheart
动宾Verb + object
不良not good
不bùnot良liánggood
偏正Modifier + head

居心 refers to one's intentions, and 不良 says they are not good.

Characters in this word

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
尸尸shī
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ居jū
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

居 is built from 尸 as the meaning part and 古 (gǔ) as the sound part.

Open 居 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 心 comes from a drawing of a heart, now highly stylized.

Open 心 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The picture in 不 originally showed a flower’s calyx; the “no” sense came later from a related character, not from this picture.

Open 不 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

良 possibly depicts corridors and a room.

Open 良 →

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